The two trappers, in company with two others of the same calling, were
on a trapping expedition to one of the tributaries of the Great Bear
River, west of the Rocky Mountains, when they were attacked by a band of
hostile Utahs, and robbed not only of the produce of their hunt, but
their horses and pack-mules were taken from them, and even their arms
and ammunition. The Indians could have taken their lives as well, but
from the interference of one of the chiefs, who knew old Ike, they were
allowed to go free, although in the midst of the desert region where
they were, that was no great favour. They were as likely as not to
perish from hunger before they could reach any settlement--as at that
time there was none nearer than Fort Hall upon the Snake River, a
distance of full three hundred miles. Our four trappers, however, were
not the men to yield themselves up to despair, even in the midst of a
desert; and they at once set about making the most of their
circumstances.
There were deer upon the stream where they had been trapping, and bear
also, as well as other game, but what did that signify now that they had
no arms? Of course the deer or antelopes sprang out of the shrubbery or
scoured across the plain only to tantalise them.
Near where they had been left by the Indians was a "sage prairie," that
is, a plain covered with a growth of the _artemisia_ plant--the leaves
and berries of which--bitter as they are--form the food of a species of
hare, known among the trappers as the "sage rabbit." This creature is
as swift as most of its tribe, but although our trappers had neither dog
nor gun, they found a way of capturing the sage rabbits. Not by snaring
neither, for they were even without materials to make snares out of.
Their mode of securing the game was as follows.
They had the patience to construct a circular fence, by wattling the
sage plants together, and then leaving one side open, they made a
"surround" upon the plain, beating the bushes as they went, until a
number of rabbits were driven within the inclosure. The remaining part
of the fence was then completed, and the rabbit hunters going inside
chased the game about until they had caught all that were inside.
Although the fence was but about three feet in height, the rabbits never
attempted to leap over, but rushed head foremost against the wattles,
and were either caught or knocked over with sticks.
This piece of ingenuity was not original with the trappers, as Ike and
Redwood admitted. It is the mode of rabbit-hunting practised by some
tribes of western Indians, as the poor Shoshonees and miserable
"diggers," whose whole lives are spent in a constant struggle to procure
food enough to sustain them. These Indians capture the small animals
that inhabit their barren country by ways that more resemble the
instinct of beasts of prey than any reasoning process. In fact there
are bands of these Indians who can hardly be said to have yet reached
the hunter state. Some of them carry as their sole armour a long stick
with a hooked end, the object of which is to drag the _agama_ and the
lizard out of its cave or cleft among the rocks; and this species of
game is transferred from the end of the stick to the stomach of the
captor with the same despatch as a hungry mastiff would devour a mouse.
Impounding the sage hare is one of the master strokes of their
hunter-craft, and forms a source of employment to them for a
considerable portion of the year.
Our four trappers, then, remembering the Indian mode of capturing these
creatures put it in execution to some advantage, and were soon able to
satisfy their hunger. After two or three days spent in this pursuit
they had caught more than twenty hares, but the stock ran out, and no
more could be found in that neighbourhood.
Of course only a few were required for present use, and the rest were
dried over a sage fire until they were in a condition to keep for some
days.
Packing them on their backs, the trappers set out, heading for the Snake
River. Before they could reach Fort Hall their rabbit meat was
exhausted, and they were as badly off as before. The country in which
they now found themselves was if possible more of a desert than that
they had just quitted. Even rabbits could not dwell in it, or the few
that were started could not be caught. The _artemisia_ was not in
sufficient plenty to make an inclosure with, and it would have been
hopeless to have attempted such a thing; as they might have spent days
without trapping a single hare. Now and again they were tantalised by
seeing the great sage cock, or, as naturalists call it, "cock of the
plains" (_Tetrao urophasianus_), but they could only hear the loud
"burr" of its wings, and watch it sail off to some distant point of the
desert plain. This bird is the largest of the grouse kind, though it is
neither a bird of handsome plumage, nor yet is it delicate in its flesh.
On the contrary, the flesh, from the nature of its food, which is the
berry of the wild wormwood, is both unsavoury and bitter. It would not
have deterred the appetites of our four trappers, could they have laid
their hands upon the bird, but without guns such a thing was out of the
question. For several days they sustained themselves on roots and
berries. Fortunately it was the season when these are ripe, and they
found here and there the prairie turnip (_Psoralea esculenta_), and in a
marsh which they had to cross they obtained a quantity of the celebrated
Kamas roots.
All these supplies, however, did not prove sufficient. They had still
four or five days' farther journey, and were beginning to fear they
would not get through it, for the country to be passed was a perfect
barren waste. At this crisis, however, a new source of subsistence
appeared to them, and in sufficient plenty to enable them to continue
their journey without fear of want. As if by magic, the plain upon
which they were travelling all at once become covered with large
crawling insects of a dark brown colour. These were the insects known
among the trappers as "prairie crickets," but from the description given
of them by the trappers the hunter-naturalist pronounced them to be
"locusts." They were of that species known in America as the "seventeen
years' locust" (_Cicada septemdecem_), so called because there is a
popular belief that they only appear in great swarms every seventeen
years. It is probable, however, that this periodical appearance is an
error, and that their coming at longer or shorter intervals depends upon
the heat of the climate, and many other circumstances.
They have been known to arrive in a great city, coming not from afar,
but out of the ground from between the bricks of the pavement and out of
crevices in the walls, suddenly covering the streets with their
multitudes. But this species does not destroy vegetation, as is the
case with others of the locust tribe. They themselves form the
favourite food of many birds, as well as quadrupeds. Hogs eagerly feed
upon and destroy vast numbers of them; and even the squirrels devour
them with as great a relish as they do nuts. These facts were furnished
by the hunter-naturalist, but our trappers had an equally interesting
tale to tell.
As soon as they set eyes upon the locusts and saw that they were
crawling thickly upon the plain, they felt that they were safe. They
knew that these insects were a staple article of food among the same
tribes of Indians--who hunt the sage hare. They knew, moreover, their
mode of capturing them, and they at once set about making a large
collection.
This was done by hollowing out a circular pit in the sandy earth, and
then the four separating some distance from each other, drove the
crickets towards a common centre--the pit. After some manoeuvring, a
large quantity was brought together, and these being pressed upon all
sides, crawled up to the edge of the pit, and were precipitated into its
bottom. Of course the hole had been made deep enough to prevent them
getting out until they were secured by the hunters.
At each drive nearly half a bushel was obtained, and then a fresh pit
was made in another part of the plain, and more driven in, until our
four trappers had as many as they wanted.
The crickets were next killed, and slightly parched upon hot stones,
until they were dry enough to keep and carry. The Indians usually pound
them, and mixing them with the seeds of a species of gramma grass, which
grows abundantly in that country, form them into a sort of bread, known
among the trappers as "cricket-cake." These seeds, however, our
trappers could not procure, so they were compelled to eat the parched
crickets "pure and unmixed;" but this, in the condition in which they
then were, was found to be no hardship.
In fine, having made a bundle for each, they once more took the route,
and after many hardships, and suffering much from thirst, they reached
the remote settlement of Fort Hall, where, being known, they were of
course relieved, and fitted out for a fresh trapping expedition.
Ike and Redwood both declared that they afterwards had their revenge
upon the Utahs, for the scurvy treatment they had suffered, but what was
the precise character of that revenge they declined stating. Both
loudly swore that the Pawnees had better look out for the future, for
they were not the men to be "set afoot on the parairy for nuthin."
After listening to the relations of our guides, a night-guard was
appointed, and the rest of us, huddling around the camp-fire, were soon
as sound asleep as though we were reposing under damask curtains, on
beds of down.